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Delicious and fluffy, Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are the perfect tasty whole-grain breakfast. Made with 100% whole wheat, they’re super fluffy and packed with amazing banana flavor and a kiss of chocolate chips.
Pair the natural sweetness of bananas, with healthy and filling whole wheat flour, add a few chocolate chips, and ta-da, breakfast is served!
You’re going to love these healthy banana muffins for a fast make-ahead breakfast. Park the extras in the freezer and sit back and watch while your family gets their own nourishing breakfast in the morning.
And if you’re a fan of whole wheat baked goods, check out my Chocolate Zucchini Muffins and Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins.
Healthy Banana Muffins Ingredients & Substitutions
- Bananas – we’re looking for overly ripe bananas with black spots on the skin. They should be soft without being completely mushy.
- Eggs – two big ones, room temperature
- Greek yogurt – plain full fat works, but you can also do reduced fat and/or vanilla Greek yogurt
- Butter – salted or unsalted. You get to choose
- Flour – whole wheat pastry flour works the best
- Lifting squad – baking soda, baking powder, and vital wheat gluten (<–gives whole wheat flour the heft it needs to get fluffy)
- Sugar – white or raw works, as would brown sugar
- Milk – I love using buttermilk because it gives the muffins a great texture
- Vanilla extract – try homemade vanilla if you’d like
If you have more ripe bananas to use up, check out our Banana French Toast.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes:
- Allow the batter to rest a bit after mixing. By allowing the batter to rest for 5-10 minutes after creating it, you let the glutens do their sciencey thing and produce air bubbles. Those bubbles are the difference between a fluffy and a dense muffin.
- The natural sweetness of the bananas means very little added sugar is needed to make these delicious. You could leave it out entirely if you’d like, but after so many variations of this recipe, I found a scant 1/4 cup of organic sugar was a perfect balance.
- Feel free to add up to 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts with the chocolate chips.
- Store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to two days. The natural sugars in the bananas will cause these muffins to get funky after 48 hours unless they’re in the fridge or freezer. We freeze extras in these reusable silicone bags. A quick 20-second zap in the microwave or an hour sitting on the counter will thaw them out, and allow them to be enjoyed morning after morning.
- If you do use buttermilk, save the extras for future batches. Learn more about it in this post on freezing buttermilk.
MORE AWESOME HEALTHY BREAKFAST Ideas
- Brown Sugar Banana Bread
- Fluffy Whole Wheat Waffles
- Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Easy Instant Pot Yogurt
- Frozen Berry Cake
- Easy Make-Ahead Scrambled Eggs
- Strawberry Waffles
- Chocolate Porridge
- Fluffy Whole Wheat Apple Pie Pancakes
- Peanut Butter Brownie Overnight Oats
- How to Bake Bacon
- Check out all my Make-Ahead Breakfast recipes
Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Delicious and fluffy, healthy banana muffins are the perfect tasty whole-grain breakfast. Made with 100% whole wheat, they're super fluffy and packed with amazing banana flavor and a kiss of chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 2 cups very ripe bananas {~3 medium-sized bananas}
- 2 eggs {room temperature}
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp butter {melted}
- 1/4 cup milk {room temperature}
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips {optional}
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the bananas until mostly smooth.2 cups very ripe bananas
- Add the eggs, Greek yogurt, butter, vanilla, and milk, and mix to combine.2 eggs, 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 3 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup milk
- In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients, excluding chocolate chips.2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt
- With the mixer on low/stir, add the dry ingredients, and mix until barely combined. There may be a bit of flour mixture left unincorporated; that's ok.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer, and fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula, gently making sure all the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.1/4 cup chocolate chips
- Set the bowl aside and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan, or grease the muffin pan. Fill each section of the muffin pan three-quarters full with the batter.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove and place on a cooling rack.
Notes
- To store the muffins: allow muffins to fully cool and transfer them to an air-tight container. Store at room temperature for 1-2 days, and then in the fridge or freezer after that.
- Allow the batter to rest a bit after mixing. By allowing the batter to rest for 5-10 minutes after creating it, you let the glutens do their sciencey thing and produce air bubbles. Those bubbles are the difference between a fluffy and a dense muffin.
- The natural sweetness of the bananas means very little sugar is needed to make these delicious. You can leave it out entirely if you prefer.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffinCalories: 126kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 4gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 152mgPotassium: 229mgFiber: 2gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 113IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 52mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @sustainablecooks or tag #sustainablecooks!
My son became obsessed with taking mini muffins as his afternoon snack for school this year. I turned to Sarah to find a substitution that would save us money, have known ingredients, and reduce our plastic packaging waste. She delivered with this recipe! I made mini muffins with a 10 minute bake time and my son has already eaten 4 of them for snack!